Everything's Ernest

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SUMMER FUN

Monday, March 12, 2018

After last year trip to Mammoth and seeing how well Skylar did, I knew this trip was really going to be her break out year when it came to skiing. Knowing that, I wanted to make sure the mountain was empty so instead of being there over a weekend, we planned our trip for the first part of the week. It was something my Mom said she did with us all through elementary school and it was always the best, and she was right.

Not only did we get to ski with a completely empty mountain we had a ton of fresh snow. We had been checking the weather for weeks hoping and praying for some sort of storm to blow in and just like most of our trips, they were hit with a HUGE storm the week/days leading up to our arrival. That got so much snow that the day before we arrived there was a mini avalanche right after the mountain opened. Thankfully no one was injured.

We had the usually suspects for this trip, my parents, and Jeremy joined us as they do every year. The kids did fabulous on the drive up, not one complaint all thanks to the 3 hour Tom & Jerry Season One DVD they watched. Kids arrived and we rented their skis and got them pumped for the next morning for when we would be hitting the slopes.

Day one had to start off with a couple licks of an icicles before we headed to the lodge. Against my wishes, Jake and Jeremy decided to forgo ski lessons for Madden and they were going to work with him, like they did with Skylar two years ago. So Skylar and I hit the slopes while they took Madden to a small hill to teach him how to ski. Well....as you can see from the rest of the pictures and the video there is nothing of Madden because after 20 minutes he fell (which was bound to happen of course, since its only his second time on skis), and he quit.

Skylar on the other hand was amazing! She blew all of us away. She took that first run and never looked back the rest of the trip. She skied the entire first day all day and practically shut down the mountain. I hadn't skied a full day probably since I was in elementary school.

My friend Rosie from Masters Swim was also up there so we got to ski with her a couple days.

Riding the gondola back with cousin Jeremy after shutting down the mountain.

Surprisingly Madden was willing to give it another try on day two. He was going to work with Jeremy and Jake again and I was hoping this was going to be the day he really got it. Well, that didn't happen. Jeremy was pulling him on his skis over to the small hill where he tipped over and landed on the side of the ski and got a bruise and that was the end of him on the slopes for the week. Not going to lie, I was really disappointed because I wanted this to be the year he got it, and next year he would be skiing with us, but it looks like we are going to have to wait another year.

Day two we took Skylar all over the mountain. She was riding blues and blue/blacks all morning long. We had to get in at least 15-20 runs with her before we call it quits at lunch time to take a trip to the tube park.

Yes, even my Mom joined in on the tube park fun. The kids had a blast and it was nice being able to see Madden have a little fun with us, since it wasn't happening on the ski slopes. The kids went up and down non-stop for an hour straight, loving each ride more and more.

By day three I figured Skylar would be over it, but no way. She wanted to keep riding. Jake said he has never snowboarded three days in a row but of course we couldn't let our girl down. We hit the mountain first thing in the morning and went as long as Skylar wanted to go.

Not only was my friend Rosie up in Mammoth, but so were our next door neighbors Max and Ando. So we got to hang at the lodge with them for a bit and Skylar and Ando even did a couple runs together.

Madden spent the morning at the lodge schooling Nana and Papa in several games of UNO.

We spent the morning skiing all of the mountain with Rosie and her Husband. Skylar was bonzing it down each and every run. She never once had any fear and even when she did fall, which wasn't very often, it was always with a laugh and a smile. By day three I would look behind me and she would be right there keeping up with all of us.

After probably close to 40-50 runs over three days Skylar called it quits. She wanted to spend some time with Madden and build their annual Mammoth Snowman.

Making a snow angel.

I can't even describe the joy this trip bought me. Being able to ski all over the mountain as a family (well, minus one person), bought back so many wonderful memories for me. We couldn't stop giving our girl so much praise on how well she did. I can't wait to see what next years trip brings her. I'm hoping she will attempt a black diamond.

The below video gives you all the highlights of Skylars' time on the mountain.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

During the Fall when I mentioned to Madden that I was was thinking about signing him up for Friday Night Lights Flag Football he yelled and me and said "I Don't Want to Play!!!" Knowing him as well as I do and knowing he was would love it, I signed him up anyways. The way he found out I registered him was from a friend from school who told him that they were going to be on the same football team. When I picked him up from school that day, I got an ear full. Once he calmed down I was able to explain to him more of the game and how it worked and he said, "Ok, I'll try it."

Fast forward to now and he is absolutely loving it!! He had his first game last week and was the MVP (well at least my MVP) of the game. Our team is a group of first time players so we didn't come out with a W, but Madden played great. He scored a touchdown and had the most defensive flag grabs on his team. He had big smiles the whole game and I can tell that this is going to be a really fun first season for him.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

This year I felt like Valentines Day just came too fast for me. I didn't put together any cute Valentines for the kids. Sadly, Jake was out of town so it was just the kids and I who celebrated together. I did end up baking them a heart-shaped cake, made them their favorite dinner (ravioli's), and got them both a small box of chocolate. They were pretty happy with it all, but Madden did say, he wished he got a lego set....typical Madden right now 😛.

Even though I didn't go big on gifts for the kids (or Jake...my bad), I was on top of the kids school Valentines. We went on Pinterest together and the kids found what they wanted to pass out. It makes it tougher with the "no candy" rule, but I think we did pretty good.

I actually think we knocked it out of the park with Madden's valentines. He said his whole class loved the whoopee cushions and wanted to play with them right away, which the teacher shut down pretty quickly. I even had a Mom tell me how much fun her family was having with the whoopee cushion.

I was pretty excited when one of the mom's from Madden's class sent around a bunch of pictures of the kids during their little Valentines Day celebration. They even got popsicles to celebrate all the love.